The death of a woman and her unborn baby after a suspected snake bite in remote WA has been made more tragic with the likelihood her pregnancy may have hastened the lethal effects of the venom.

The 27-year-old woman was 31 weeks pregnant when she told her family she had been bitten by the snake in Meekatharra, 775 kilometres north-east of Perth.

By the time she could be rushed to hospital she was dead, and staff were unable to save her unborn baby.

The dangers of pregnancy and snake bite

Obstetric consultant and spokesman for the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Scott White, said snake bites were more dangerous to pregnant woman and their foetuses than non-pregnant people.

Dr White said pregnant women needed more aggressive treatment after a snake bite than regular patients.

"A pregnant woman is someone who might deteriorate more rapidly after a snakebite and they need more urgent attention and to be treated with rapid access to treatment and more cardiovascular support than for someone who is not pregnant."

Dr Jackson said for all snake bite victims, the timeframe for treatment was critical.

"Knowing CPR … can be a major factor between life and death," he said.

"… People in remote communities where they have snakes, it might be a long distance to professional medical care, [so] being first-aid trained and keeping training current is really crucial and can be the difference between life and death."

Distance a crucial factor

Dr Jackson said the treatment window for snake bite varied according to a range of factors, such as the species of snake, amount of venom in a bite, a person's physiological state and when they were bitten.

But a crucial factor in the outcome of a bite was often the time it took to get treatment, particularly in remote areas like Meekatharra.

"If it takes a long time for people to get to hospital, naturally there is a higher chance things could go wrong for them.

"In remote hospitals they may not have such a big budget for medicine and they may see very few snakebites, not because there aren't many snakes — snakes might be very abundant in those areas — but there aren't a lot of people.

"Maybe a lot of people in the area understand how to avoid snakes, how to avoid getting bitten, so those could all be factors that play into either the amount of time it takes for someone to receive antivenom or whether the initial receiving hospital actually stocks antivenom."

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